Performance analysis of rate-based flow control under a variable number of sources

Rate-based flow control plays an important role for efficient traffic management of ABR service in ATM networks. In this paper, a performance analysis of a rate-based flow control mechanism is presented. In our analytical model, the number of active sources is variable. A new source arrives when a connection is established, and an existing source departs when it has transmitted its data. Hence our model not only reflects the real scenes, but also correctly estimates the effect of the rate-based flow control. Due to this variation, the analysis of the steady state is not enough. Therefore the analysis of transient cycles is also developed. Using the results of both analyses, we derive the equations of cell loss probability and utilization. Numerical results, confirmed by simulation, are given to show that our analysis is accurate. Also an underestimation of over an order of magnitude in cell loss probability is observed when we use the analysis ignoring the transient cycles. We demonstrate that the efficiency of using rate-based control is seriously influenced by the source arrival rate and source departure rate. q 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. . .